Type-wheel-setting mechanism for printing-telegraph receivers



Oct. 20,1925. 1,557,692

G.s;HmTz

TYPE WHEEL SETTINGMECHANISM FOR PRINTING TELEGRAPH RECEIVERS ile Fe 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1. IN V EN TOR Geo/:ge k5. Hi/fz BYhE A TTORNE Y5 Oct. 20,1925- 1.5s7.692 f e. s. HILTZ TYPE WHEEL SETTING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING TELEGRAIH ancuvsns Filed Feb. 8, 1923 3 Sheets-Shet 2 1, INVENTOR GeoqgbdHi/lz BY/7/l$ v IQTTORNEYS Oct, 20, 1925- 1,557,692

G. s. HILTZ TYPE WHEEL srmme uncmmxsm FOR PRINTING TELEGRAPH nzqzrvans *Fu ed Feb. 8, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet :5

def/mg Mayne/.5.

W/hdhg Magnet 24 A TTORNEYJ Patented Oct. 20, 1925.

PATENT OFF-ICE,

GEORGE s. HILTZ, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AssrGNoRTo STOCK QUo'rAirioN TELE- GRAPH COMPANY, on NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION on NEW YORK.

TYPE-WHEEL-SETTING MEoHAN sr/ FOR PRINTING-TELEGRAPH RECEIVERS.

Application filed February To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. I-IILTZ, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Brooklyn, Kings County, New

York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Type-WVheel-Setting Mechanism for Printing-Telegraph Receivers, of

which the following is a full, clear, and

' exact description. 7

This invention relates to printing telegraph receivers of the class in which the type carrier, usually in the form of a wheel with type on its periphery, is shifted step-bytion a movement of the spring in the ten-- sioning direction will be produced; In practice this method has involved the use of a'heavy flywheel which is actuated by the printing magnet and'which is itself connected with the spring, the intent being that a short quick impulse imparted to the flywheel will, by reason of its momentum,"

cause it to run ahead of the act'uating'means and thereby produce a greater tensioning movement of the spring than would 0the-rwise be practicable with the comparatively short stroke of the printing magnet armature and its relatively infrequent actuation. This method, however, has certain disadvantages, chiefly incident to the use of the heavy flywheel, and it is accordingly one object of my invention to eliminate the flywheel and provide means whereby the typewheel spring is tensioned at each step of the typewheel in the operation of setting? it, that is, bringing the desired character or characters to the printing line. It is then virtually impossible for the spring, initially under tension, to become completely relaxed, especially if, as is preferable, the tensioning 0 devices are constructed to over-wind the of the type (now in extensive use in New above mentioned. ,part of the present invention and hence s, 1923. Seria1'N0. 617,860.

York cityandelsewlierel described in my prior Patents Nos. 1,085,124 and 1,086,049.

In the drawings: i V

Fig. 1 is a front View of a portion of the machine.

' Fig. 2 is a detail cross section on line 2-20f Fig. 1.;

Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 3-3 I of Fig. 1 but showing the printing magnet.

Fig; 1 is a detail side View of'the wind: ing mechanism, from the left of Fig. 1' but on a larger scale. i

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the wiring of the system, including the transmitter.

The machine illustrated iswhat is com-. monly known as a stock ticker and prints on a paper strip or tape 10, fed step-bystep between thetypewheel 11 and the platen 12 by suitable means, notshown. The platen is actuated by the armature 13 of the print: ing magnet 14., The typewheel shown is in the form 'oftwo disks and bears two rows of characters, as indicated, and in order to print from either row at will'the Y platen may be constructed and actuated as...

described in my prior Patent No. 1,085,124?

This feature forms no need not be further illustrated or described herein', f M l The typewheel 11 is fixedon a transverse shaft 15 encircled 'by a" coil spring 16, one

end of which ishooked into the scapewheel 18 and the other fixedto a small" ratchet 17 rotatably. mounted on the typewheel shaft."

It will therefore be seen that if the ratchet is not allowed to turn 'in the unwinding direction, the spring, assumed to be under tension, will rotate the shaft and typewheel in the opposite direction, thus carrying the type in succession past theprinting'line This movement is controlled by an electromagnetic escapement mechanism comprising a scapewheel 18 fixed on the shaft, an anchor .19 embracing the ,scapewheel and carried by a pivoted armature 20', and two opposed electromagnets 21,22,- so wound and connected that positive and negative impulses of cu'rrent'through them will swing the polarized armature 20 in opposite directions, as V will be readily understood, thereby permitting the typewheel and its shaft to rotate step-by-step under the influence of the driving spring 16. The setting magnets 21, 22 are in series with the For the purpose of winding the spring 16 so that it can rotate the typewheel, a

pair of opposed electromagnets 23, 24, are

7 provided, in parallel with the setting magnets 21, 22, and polarized by a permanent "magnet 25, for example as indicated by of an anchor or yoke 27 embracing the windthe plus and minus signs in Figs. 4c and 5. These tensioning magnets are so wound that a positive impulse of current will produce a positive poleat the inner end of each core, and that, per contra, a negative impulse will produce negative'poles.

Hence, as far as the -permanent magnetization is concerned, the pivoted unpolarized armature 26 will cling to or be attracted by either pole inditterently. Suppose, for eXample, that the arinature'isswung toward magnet 24. Then a positive impulse comingove'r the line will, by producing two positive poles, nullify or greatly diminish the permanent magnetization of magnet 24 and will at'th'e same time greatly strengthen the permanent magnetization of magnet '23.

The armature 26 will therefore be powerfully attracted by magnet 23 and but little, if at 'all, by the other, 'with the result that the armature will swing toward magnet 28. Similarly, a negative impulse through the magnets will strengthen the effective field of magnet 24 and weaken that of magnet 23, whereupon. the armature will be swung back to magnet 24. In this way alternating impulses transmitted over the line cause the armature 26 to vibrate in unison therewith. i i

The armature 26 is employed to tension the typewheel setting spring 16 by means ing ratchet 17 'and having inwardly eX- tending pawls 28, 29, pivoted on the arms of the yoke and held yieldingly in engagement with the ratchet on opposite sides of the same by light springs 30, 3,1, as in Fig. l. It will therefore be seen that as the armature swings-back and forth, the pawls, working in alternation, rotate the ratchet step-by-step around the shaft 15 in the directio'n of the arrow, thereby winding the typewheel spring 16, which, it will'be remembered, is connected at one end to the scapewheel and at the other to the ratchet. Thus each alternating currentimpulse sent over the line in the operation of setting the typewheel has a tensioning effect upon the spring, preferably at least enough to wind the spring as much as it unwinds at than the step of the typewheel. The resulting over-winding insures that the spring will always be under suiiicient tension to rotate the typewheel at high speed. If,

. then, the spring is wound to the point where its reaction is equal to the effort of the winding armature the latter simply remains mo tionless until the. spring has been unwound a step'or two by the typewheel. 'In short, the spring is usually under a tension which is substantially constant.

The amplitude of swing of the winding armature 26 is regulated by screw stops 32, 38, Fig. mounted in uprights 34, 35, held between the magnet cores and the ends of the permanent magnet 25.-

The apparatus is what is known as a one-wire? machine, that is, ithas but one transmission circuit, over which all the current employed is transmitted. The wiring of the system is illustrated in Fig. 5. Any suitable transmitter may be used by which current-impulses of alternating polarity can be delivered to the line, and I have shown, diagrammatically, a sim le form of transmitter composed of two keys36, 37, playing between contacts which are connected'to a source or" direct current 38, as indicated. The keys are connected one to line and one to ground, respectively, and each is, normally held against its upper contact. It will therefore be seen that if key- 36 alone is depressed a current-impulse (say positive) will be sent over the line in one direction,"as indicated by the solid arrows; whereas depression of the other key alone will send an impulse in the opposite direction, as indicated by the dotted arrows. When the typewheel has been rotated, by these rapidly alternating impulses, to bring the desired character to the printing position the final impulse isprolonged, that is, the key last depressed is held down, so that the printing magnet 14 can be energized suificiently to actuate its armature and thereby make the imprint as previously explained.

It. is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the construction herein specifically illustrated and described but can be embodied in other forms without departure. from itsspirit.

I claim- 1. In a printing telegraph receiver, in combination, a typewheel, a spring to actuate the typewheel to bring characters thereon to the printing position, electromagnetic setting means to control the movement of spring to shift the typewheel, electromagnetic escapement mechanism to control the typewheel and give the same a step-by-step movement under the tension of said spring, and electromagnetic means independent of the electromagnetic escapement mechanism but operable at each step of the typewheel to tension the typewheel actuating spring.

3. In a printing telegraph receiver, in

combination, a typewheel, an actuating spring to shift the typewheel, electromag' netic setting means operating to cause a step-by-step movement of the typevvheel under the energy of said actuating spring, and electromagnetic means energizable simultaneously with the setting means at each step of the typewheel to tension said actuating spring by an amount at least equal to the tension expended in shifting the typewhe-el one step.

4. In a printing telegraph receiver, in combination, a typewheel, a shaft therefor, a spring carried by the shaft and connected with the typewheel to rotate the latter, electromagnetic escapement mechanism to give the typ-ewheel a step-by-step movement of rotation under the influence of said spring, a tensioning ratchet carried by said shaft and connected with the spring tote-nsion the same, a pawl to actuate the ratchet, and an electromagnet, energizable simultaneously With the electromagnetic escapement mechanism at each step of the typewheel, to actuate the pawl and thereby rotate the tensioning ratchet.

5. In a printing telegraph receiver, in combination, a typewheel actuating spring, a type wheel escapement magnet energizable by short rapidly succeeding current impulses,

ratchet and pawl mechanism to tension said spring, and an electromagnet to actuate the ratchet and pawl mechanism and energizable by the same short current impulses that energize the escap-ement magnet.

' 6. In a printing telegraph system, in combination, a singletransmittingcircuit, a receiver having a typewheel and a typewheel actuating spring, electromagnetic escapement mechanism in said circuit to control I the movement of the typewheel, electromagnetic printing mechanism inseries with the escapement mechanism to take impressions fr'omvthe typewheel, and electromagnetic mechanism in series with said electromagnetic printing mechanism to tension said spring.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my signature.

GEORGE s. HILTZ. 

